{"id":482568,"date":"2026-02-15T23:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T23:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/482568\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T23:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T23:56:08","slug":"eberechi-eze-inspires-arsenal-to-emphatic-fa-cup-victory-against-wigan-fa-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/482568\/","title":{"rendered":"Eberechi Eze inspires Arsenal to emphatic FA Cup victory against Wigan | FA Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a testing few months for the man who scored the winner for Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final last season. But after being substituted at half-time during the disappointing draw with Brentford<\/a> on Thursday, perhaps this competition could help to breathe new life into Eberechi Eze\u2019s Arsenal career.<\/p>\n

As well as providing assists for Noni Madueke\u2019s and Gabriel Martinelli\u2019s goals \u2013 albeit against a poor Wigan side languishing in the League One relegation zone \u2013 the England midfielder\u2019s swagger was back for the first time since he scored a hat\u2011trick in the north London derby<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

With doubts over the participation of Martin \u00d8degaard against Wolves on Wednesday after the captain was not part of the matchday squad on Sunday, and with Kai Havertz expected to miss at least four matches with a muscle injury, it could be a timely return to form for Eze before the rematch with Tottenham next weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I want from him,\u201d said Mikel Arteta, who confirmed \u00d8degaard picked up a knock against Brentford and admitted Arsenal\u2019s growing injury list in attacking midfield is a concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still coping with that, but we need some players back and fit to give us not only numbers but different options in relation to the opponents that we have. The quicker the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenn Whelan, who is sharing interim management duties at Wigan with Graham Barrow, revealed beforehand that he had been in touch with his former Republic of Ireland teammate Keith Andrews to get some tips about facing Arsenal, the record 14-time FA Cup<\/a> winners, after watching Brentford cut their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points.<\/p>\n

However, after this thumping kept alive Arsenal\u2019s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple, the former Stoke midfielder might be relieved that their spell is not expected to last much longer. Gary Caldwell is tipped to leave Exeter and return to the club he helped to win the FA Cup in 2013 as a player before managing them to promotion to the Championship three years later.<\/p>\n

Having picked up only one point from their previous seven league games including a 6-1 hammering by Peterborough that cost Ryan Lowe his job, Wigan\u2019s priorities are clearly elsewhere. They set up in a back five but that was abandoned when Arsenal raced into a 4\u20110 lead after only 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

Noni Madueke slots the ball past Sam Tickle to score Arsenal\u2019s first goal. Photograph: David Price\/Arsenal FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Arteta was forced into a change when Riccardo Calafiori picked up an injury in the warmup. That meant Myles Lewis-Skelly was denied a rare opportunity to start in midfield and reverted to left-back as Bukayo Saka was promoted from the bench to an unfamiliar No 10 position earmarked originally for Eze.<\/p>\n

It did not take for long for Wigan to be overwhelmed by Arsenal\u2019s array of attacking ability. Eze, playing alongside Christian N\u00f8rgaard in a deeper midfield role than against Brentford, was given far too much space to pick out a perfect through ball for Madueke and his finish left the goalkeeper, Sam Tickle, flailing.<\/p>\n

Seven minutes later, Eze repeated the trick but this time the killer pass was executed with his left foot as Martinelli was the grateful beneficiary.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideFulham advance past StokeShow<\/p>\n

Harrison Reed’s opportunistic finish carried Fulham into the fifth round of the FA Cup as they came from behind to defeat the Championship strugglers Stoke 2-1 at the bet365 Stadium.<\/p>\n

Stoke have not won a game since seeing off Coventry in the previous round, but started well against a Fulham side showing 10 changes from their midweek defeat by Manchester City.<\/p>\n

The South Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho capped a fine move by putting Mark Robins’s team ahead after 19 minutes but they were overpowered as their Premier League opponents settled after the interval.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian winger Kevin got his reward for a livewire performance in the 55th minute, sending a first-time effort into the bottom corner after cutting in from the left, and a self-inflicted error cost the hosts dear with six minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Under siege for long periods, goalkeeper Tommy Simkin attempted a short pass to Tatsuki Seko, who was caught daydreaming by Reed, Fulham’s captain for the day. He collected the ball as Seko tumbled to the turf, finished calmly and sealed the London club’s place in the next stage.\u00a0PA Media<\/p>\n

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Jack Hunt \u2013 the veteran who spent three seasons at Palace more than a decade ago but never made a first-team appearance \u2013 was the unfortunate culprit when Saka and Madueke combined to devastating effect down the right. Gabriel Jesus should have finished it but Hunt\u2019s untimely header left the 35\u2011year\u2011old cursing his luck. He was caught out again by N\u00f8rgaard\u2019s long pass to pick out Jesus and this time the Brazilian made no mistake. \u201cAre you Tottenham in disguise?\u201d the Arsenal fans mocked.<\/p>\n

Hunt\u2019s miserable afternoon was completed soon after when he was withdrawn for Matt Smith \u2013 a product of Arsenal\u2019s academy \u2013 as Whelan switched to a back four. At least they made it to half-time without conceding again, although Wigan\u2019s mascot, Crusty the Pie, was on the end of a 3-1 penalty shootout defeat by a jubilant Gunnersaurus during the break.<\/p>\n

Saka, who returned from a hip injury against Brentford, made way for Viktor Gy\u00f6keres for the second half as Arsenal went back on the attack. The Sweden striker struck the post from Ben White\u2019s pass before Eze fired into the side netting after a mazy run. Marli Salmon, a highly rated 16-year-old central defender who has already played in the Champions League, was brought on for William Saliba to make his home debut with half an hour to play and shifted across to right\u2011back when Ben White was taken off after receiving treatment.<\/p>\n

Martinelli now has 10 goals in the FA Cup and Champions League this season but he and Eze were both denied another by outstanding saves from Tickle as Wigan managed to limit the damage that had already been done. \u201cA little tweak made a big difference,\u201d Barrow said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to stick together and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a testing few months for the man who scored the winner for Crystal Palace in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-482568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}